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Frölunda HC

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Frölunda HC
Frölunda HC
Frölunda HC
Founded February 3, 1938
History Västra Frölunda IF
1944-1984
Västra Frölunda HC
1984-2004
Frölunda HC
2004-present

Frölunda Indians
1996-present
Home Building Scandinavium
City Gothenburg, Sweden
Team Colors Red, Green, White
Coaches Head Coach
Stephan Lundh
Asst. Coach
Calle Johansson
Titles Swedish Champions
1965, 2003, 2005


Frölunda HC (formerly Västra Frölunda HC), also known as Frölunda Indians, is a Swedish professional ice hockey club from Gothenburg, playing in Elitserien.

History

Early years

Frölunda Hockey Club origins from Älvsborg's gymnastics- and sports association, an association which shortly after its foundation on January 2, 1930, changed name to Västra Frölunda Idrottsförening.

On February 3, 1938, during a board meeting at Caffé Lorry, the ice hockey section in VFIF was founded. It's was chairman Nils "Johan" Johansson who was the advocate of an ice hockey section in VFIF.

It wasn't until the 1943/44 season that Västra Frölunda reported a team for league play. However it would take more then 2 seaosn before Västra Frölunda IF played their first game on January 25, 1946. Mild winters and unfavorable weather was the cause of this. There were no artificial ice rinks in Gothenburg at this time so Västra Frölunda IF's home games were played at Hinsholmsviken (a cove).

Could have been Angels

”IFK starts hockeysection – Frölunda players to transfer” was the headline on GT's sports pages February 16, 1955. The article said that IFK Göteborg would just as GAIS, start a hockeysection. The idea was too transfer Västra Frölunda IF's ice hockey section to local rival IFK Göteborg, since VFIF had financial problems due to the fact that the association had both bandy and ice hockey on their program.

The article said that vital issues had too be solved before anything would be official. The next day however, team leader Bengt ”Bittan” Johansson strongly denied the rumours. ”It's absolutely false that our ice hockey players will transfer to "the comrades". I have, however, in rage over our mistreatment by the Gothenburg Ice Hockey Federation, said that you would have too be a part of "the comrades" too get the economy together. But I have never had any negotiation with IFK about the issue.

Frölunda and IFK Göteborg never transfered any sections between eachother, but the rumours were infact true. "Bittan" had talked to IFK's managment about a transfer but changed his mind in the last minute. In an interview on June 25, 1968, Bittan said that the deal was as close to done but when realizing what the consequences for Frölunda would be he rejected the deal.

Swedish Champions 1965

On the October 25, 1964, a season started that would end in the best possible way for VFIF. Västra Frölunda, Djurgården, Malmö FF, Södertälje, Västerås, Viking, Grums and the defending Swedish Champions Brynäs played in the first division's southern group. The teams would meet eachoter 2 times, and play 1 home game each.

Västra Frölunda IF won the series with 23 points, after home losses against Brynäs and Västerås, and on tie game against Södertälje. Brynäs and Västerås managed too get 22 points each.

Also the northen group was close. MoDo won with 20 points, Leksand and Skellefteå finnished at 19 points each and AIK finnished 4th with 18 points.

For the first time, the Swedish Championships were played in a doubble series, which naturaly would be much more equitable then the previously lottery of the single game series.

After the first round, anxiety spread in the Frölunda managment. Despite a win over Skellefteå with 5-2, after goals by Sura-Pelle, Göte Boström, Arne Carlsson, Roger Olsson and Lars-Eric Lundvall. But it was an expensive victory, since Kjell-Ronnie Pettersson, Owe Sterner and Kjell Adrian were injured.

Nevertheless, the team didn't appear/seem too be influenced/affected by this for the next few rounds. Frölunda won against Södertälje with 5-9, Västerås with 8-5 and aginst Brynäs with 1-5. However, in the fifth round, Leksand became too hard dispite home ice advantage. 14000 people at Ullevi couldn't belive their eyes when Frölunda were defeated, with 2-3, even though they won the shots with 38-23. The excitment was back in the playoffs, after a great game by Leksand's goaltender Sture Leksell.

Already in the next round, the sixth, had Frölunda found their game and won all their remaining games, except for the last game against Brynäs at Ullevi.

Frölunda got their revenge on Leksand in the 12th round. Frölunda won on the road with 2-6, and the victory was never threatend. Leksand's first goal came in the third period, when the score was 0-4. Goal scorers in Västra Frölunda were Leif ”Blixten” Henriksson (2), Arne Carlsson, Lars-Eric Lundvall, Göte Boström and Ronald ”Sura-Pelle” Pettersson.

Frölunda had 22 points and Brynäs 18 points, prior to the second last round. Frölunda needed just 1 points against Västerås on the road, too secure the Swedish Championship Title.

Frölunda did what was needed too be done, they easyaly won over Västerås with 7-2, and secured the title. This was the first time that the title was awarded outside of the Stockholm – Södertälje – Gävle region. Some excitment came in the second period when Västerås reduced the score to 2-3, but shortly after, Göte Boström managed too put the puck in the net after a misstake by the goalie. The goal scorers for Frölunda were, Ronald ”Sura-Pelle” Pettersson (2), Göte Boström (2), Berny Karlsson, Arne Carlsson and Lars-Eric Lundvall,

The last round was of no importance, yet 12000 proud fans came too see the final game against Brynäs. And got too see the members of the gold medal winning team, Ingemar Caris, Eine Olsson, Gert Blomé, Arne Carlsson, Jan Olsén, Kjell Adrian, Ronald ”Sura-Pelle” Pettersson, Leif Henriksson, Lars Erc Lundvall, Göte Boström, Roger Olsson, Göte Hansson, Kjell Jönsson, Kjell Ove Gustavsson, Kjell Ronnie Pettersson, Owe Sterner, Berny Karlsson and coach Stig Hylland awarded their trophy.

Independent

In 1984 Västra Frölunda HC was formed from the sports association Västra Frölunda IF's ice hockey activity.

Now

In the 2004-05 season, the club's 60th anniversary and 20th as independant club, the team won the league title, by having the best record during the regular season, and the Swedish Championship. That particular year was notable because the National Hockey League had a labour stoppage due to contract negotiations between the league and the players. Many professional hockey players who could not play in the NHL chose to play in European or North American leagues. The largest number of professional NHL players were in Sweden for the season. This increased the quality of play dramatically and many observers said that the Elitserien was the best league in the world during 2004-05.[citation needed]

Frölunda set a new Elitserien record on April 6, 2006, by winning the Elitserien playoff quarterfinals against Linköpings HC after trailing 1-3 in matches with 4-3. The season ended with a 2-4 defeat against Färjestads BK in the finals. The second game in the finals Ronnie Sundin played his 685th match for Frölunda becoming the player with most career games for the club.

Although their home arena is Scandinavium, Frölundaborg (capacity 9,200) is used when Scandinavium is occupied with other events.

Notable Players

Current squad

As of August 22, 2006

Goaltenders
Number Player Catches Acquired Place of Birth
1 Sweden Joel Gistedt L 2006 Uddevalla, Sweden
31 Sweden Tommy Salo L 2005 Surahammar, Sweden
Defensemen
Number Player Shoots Acquired Place of Birth
5 Sweden Jan-Axel Alavaara L 2001 Kiruna, Sweden
7 Finland Antti-Jussi Niemi L 2003 Vantaa, Finland
8 Finland Arto Tukio L 2004 Tampere, Finland
21 Finland Markus Seikola R 2006 Turku, Finland
23 Sweden Ronnie Sundin - A L 1998 Ludvika, Sweden
25 Finland Tomi Pettinen L 2006 Ylöjärvi, Finland
44 Sweden Jonas Ahnelöv L 2006 Stockholm, Sweden
85 Sweden Johan Fransson L 2006 Kalix, Sweden
Forwards
Number Player Position Shoots Acquired Place of Birth
10 Sweden Fredrik Johansson C L 2006 Munkedal, Sweden
12 Sweden Karl Fabricius RW L 2006 Boden, Sweden
16 Sweden Anton Axelsson RW L 2005 Gothenburg, Sweden
18 Canada Steve Kariya LW R 2006 North Vancouver, Canada
22 Sweden Jonas Esbjörs - A LW L 2002 Gothenburg, Sweden
24 Sweden Niklas Andersson LW L 2001 Gothenburg, Sweden
26 Sweden Patrik Carlsson LW L 2006 Kungälv, Sweden
28 Switzerland Martin Plüss C L 2004 Bülach, Switzerland
30 Sweden Jonas Johnson - C C L 1998 Gävle, Sweden
33 Slovakia Martin Cibák C L 2006 Liptovsky Mikulas, Czechoslovakia
61 Sweden Johan Ryno RW L 2006 Örebro, Sweden
71 Finland Tomi Kallio RW L 2003 Turku,Finland

Team Captains

Retired Numbers

References

  • Template:Sv icon "Frölunda Indians spelare". Frölundas historia. Retrieved July 20. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)



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